TORONTO — Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. has launched the Shoppers Health Care Portal, a website that gives Canadian health care professionals access to drug reimbursement information and clinical tools.
Aimed at improving patient care, the Shoppers Health Care Portal is a web-based application available to doctors, nurse practitioners and registered nurses — and it’s the first of its kind in Canada, Shoppers Drug Mart said Wednesday.
The portal will give registered users access to drug coverage reimbursement and clinical eligibility criteria for over 200 special authorization medications, as well as patient assistant program information.
"As a patient-focused organization, Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix is dedicated to making health information and services available to the communities we serve," Dorian Lo, executive vice president of pharmacy and health care at Shoppers Drug Mart, said in a statement. "The Shoppers Health Care Portal will help to provide physicians and extended health care teams with key reimbursement information and requirements needed to ensure their patients receive the most appropriate medications for their condition."
Registered users of the portal will also get access to the British Medical Journal‘s Clinical Assessment Tool Best Practice, which provides information on more than 10,000 conditions, Lexi-CALC medical calculators, the Lexi-Interact drug interaction database, printable patient handouts by condition, and links to allied health resources, among other information.
"Drug reimbursement guidelines can be complicated and can require lengthy interpretation and advocacy for patients who require medications that are subject to restrictions," stated John Esdaile, scientific director of the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada and professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia. "The introduction of this portal provides improved access to the information and resources needed to determine the clinical and reimbursement requirements that should result in a greater number of Canadians receiving optimal treatment at an affordable cost."
Physicians and other health care professionals can register for the Shoppers Health Care Portal at shoppershealthcareportal.org.
"There are significant gaps in treatment and care for people living with arthritis," noted Cheryl Koehn, founder and president of Arthritis Consumer Experts and JointHealth. "One of these gaps lies in the lack of clarity and information provided to the patient required for appropriate reimbursement for prescription medications related to the treatment of the disease. The launch of this portal will give physicians the information they need at their fingertips to help their patients with medication reimbursement, which will ultimately lead to improved patient care and health outcomes."
